PILOT REVIEW: Manifest

MANIFEST

Starring: Melissa Roxburgh, Josh Dallas, Athena Karkanis, J.R. Ramirez, Luna Blaise, Jack Messina, Parveen Kaur

Created by Jeff Rake
Written by Jeff Rake, Directed by David Frankel

IN SHORT: No, I swear this one is different from Lost!

THE PREMISE:
In 2013, flight 828 from Jamaica to New York City disappeared and was never heard of again until 2018 when the plane finally landed. Although it had been over five years on the ground, it was only a couple minutes for those on board. Although there were nearly 200 passengers, the show focuses on a couple of them. Siblings Michaela and Ben (Melissa Roxburgh and Josh Dallas) were on board and now reunite with their families and their new lives. Ben's son Cal (Jack Messina) was on board and suffering from terminal cancer but now can do a new state of the art treatment discovered by fellow passenger, Saanvi (Parveen Kaur). Ben's wife and daughter (Athena Karkanis and Luna Blaise) were not on board and now try to re-connect. Michaela must deal with the fact that her fiance, Jared (J.R. Ramirez) has since re-married.

THE REVIEW:
I have been so burned by shows like this since I started this blog eight years ago. Shows that didn't last that I really enjoyed like The Event and shows that had a great concept initially but couldn't see it through like Blindspot or Revolution (in my opinion). So it is with immense caution that I approach this show, but I can't help but be intrigued because I just love the concept so much. I think the idea of a plane landing after 5 years on the ground and no time passed in the air is fascinating and thought provoking. What did my life look like five years ago? How will it look in five years?

While the show devolved into melodrama and some predictable storylines at time, I thought the action kept moving well through the first hour. I liked that they quickly passed over the "what's going on?" phase of the plane landing and immediately jumped to a couple days later. They have plenty of time to keep exploring the mystery of the plane and it was smart to start jumping into some other stories they want to tell. At first, I was skeptical of the "voices in the head" stories, but that started to win me over by the end of the episode.

The performances were solid, particularly Josh Dallas who drives the action and was very believable. I liked Melissa Roxburgh too in most of the scenes, but there were a couple times that her acting didn't ring true to me. Parveen Kaur was the other main cast member from the flight that we got to know and she seems to have an interesting storyline. There's a lot of other stories to tell and I hope we get to see more from the pilot in future episodes even though he is not a series regular.

BOTTOM LINE:
As is always the case, the Manifest team claims they have an endgame in mind. To be honest, I can't quite come up with a story and resolution that would be satisfying in the end but I'm inclined to give it a try. It could become convoluted and lose its way but I'm going to give it a try.